Confession 2: Once upon a time I believed your work and private life deserved to be separate…. but not anymore!

It’s been 16 days since my last confession………

In a cyber kingdom far, far away

It baffles me that there are social media users out there who so blatantly post inappropriate, ignorant, and offensive content through their various social media accounts like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

It baffles me even more that these same social media users seem to never have heard of privacy settings; those, which are put in place to prohibit certain individuals and/ or organizations (limitedly so) from gaining access to the user’s personal anecdotes he/she posts but wants to keep hidden.

It baffles me to the infinity degree that these same social med-iots are shocked, appalled, and hopefully embarrassed if or when this unflattering social snapshot is amplified to the masses by their peers through the same social sharing platforms.

Let me be clear, I do not condone hiding behind privacy settings in order to post abhorrent (or illegal) content or ignorant points of view. But over the last decade with the likes of Justine Sacco, Anthony Cumia formerly of the Opie & Anthony radio show, and just recently with Kathyrn Knott, a princess turned evil and former hospital employee from Philadelphia — the vallainous alter egos of social media have been revealed for who they truly are.

In fact I’m more convinced than ever that because people can hide behind their privacy settings, and those who don’t think they have to because it’s their First Amendment right (I’m looking at you Anthony), employers should be able to request access to prospective employees’ social media accounts during the interview process, as well as randomly audit individuals currently working within the organization.

Why? Because what you post MATTERS.

I think it would be a novel idea to tie one’s income earning power to one’s penchant for having discriminatory points of view that perpetuate racism, sexism, homophobia and the like in this country (i.e. if you’re racist, you’d be paid less by not being paid at all) then I think we’d have a lot of people reconsidering their derogatory views on minorities. I can hear the right wing cringing as I type. And even I am eye-rolling at this naive, way-too-hopeful-in-humanity proposition.

Let me elaborate and perhaps that might shine some light onto my over optimistic, fairy-tail point of view.

A ‘Knott’ so Fairy-Tail……

Just recently Kathryn Knott, the delightful, I forgot to mention rotten, peach from Philadelphia was arrested along with 2 other suspects (Kevin Harrigan & Philip Williams) in association to an alleged attack on two gay men near the City Center district’s gay-borhood. So much for ‘City of Brotherly Love!’ Coincidentally it was social media that lead to the arrests of the 3 suspects including Knott!

The 3 suspects (L-R) Kevin Harrigan, Kathryn Knott, Philip Williams

Since those arrests were made public Knott has been singled out from the three suspects  by her social media peers and is being burned at the Insta-stake, crucified with a crown full of tweets, essentially forced to never show her face in public again. One look at her Twitter account and you’ll know why, and since at this point her Twitter account has been deleted (as those who post awful anecdotes amplifying their true ugly colors do ), here’s a dark glimpse into the hateful, homophobic, seemingly always intoxicated social world of Kathryn Knott courtesy of Scott Wooledge.

And here’s a few that make me furious…. 

Her lawyer is arguing that these tweets are being taken out of context. Ummmm OK, because “#dyke” was really just her misspelling the word dike, which is reference to a long wall or embankment built to prevent flooding from the sea. Solid defense! #YEAH_RIGHT

But wait the story doesn’t end there! To take her from, “ignorant little rich girl” to bonafide “super villain” Knott tweeted photos of patient x-rays while she worked as an emergency room technician for Lansdale Hospital. Most were unidentifiable, but under pressure from the Twitter community alarmed that HIPAA requirements around patient privacy could be at risk and the general lack of professionalism demonstrated by this mini-Maleficent, Lansdale fired her within the last few days.

We All Won’t Live (or Work) Happily Ever After

So here we are in 2014 and Miss Knott has finally been fired. Most of those awful tweets and photo uploads occurred in 2011, 2012, and it seemed that 2013 was a record breaking year for her in drinking her face off and drunk-tweeting as most 24-year-olds do. For what it’s worth (and it’s not a lot) I empathize with her since we do live in a culture that idolizes drinking alcohol, but that’s a whole other topic for blogging.

 Some have called this social media “Knott bashing” misogynistic and from a macro level I suppose it’s true considering the other two arrested were male and their mug shots are probably on some “Hot Dude Mugshot” website. However, it’s worth noting that Philip Williams and Kevin Harrigan are virtually impossible to find on social media. Kathryn Knott let the social world know exactly what she was doing and made it easier than a Sunday morning to find her Twitter account. Let’s hope that those who investigate and report for a living are exercising their due diligence in looking into the background of Mr. Harrigan and Mr. Williams. And if they do have social media accounts I’d be very curious and would bet that the we’d find similar content there too.

But this is an interesting notion. Lansdale hospital had to have conducted a background check on Miss Knott prior to employment, right? Even so in regard to the employers of the two men arrested. It’s a required practice by almost every company in America today. And I am sure that the HR approved service used for Miss Knott’s employment back in 2010 did everything by-the-book that eventually approved her to be hired. With that approval the company considered Knott to be a low risk or non-threat to the operations of their company…….and they never looked back. Regrettably so I might assume.

Had they looked at her social media accounts over the years would they have felt different about Knott’s risk factor? It was, afterall, right there for the world to see! And what about those who have a lockdown on their social media accounts (presumably the case with both male suspects) only sharing posts with those who have been approved to see them. Just because it’s “behind closed doors” does not make it ok to share illegal or disparaging remarks against another race, gender, religion, sexual orientation etc.

And if anyone thinks their First Amendment right is being infringed upon….. GOOD!

Societal True Love’s Kiss

If we continue as a society and more importantly as employers to allow racists, misogynists, homophobes, anyone who discriminates against a group welcomed by the United States to hide behind their Freedom of Speech BS where social media is concerned then we’re part of the problem.

Sidebar: casual racism is racism.

I think society in general, when it comes to social media and as participating citizens of the US, is becoming more savvy and outspoken when disparaging comments are being broadcast on these channels, and very quickly too. It’s caused many famous and infamous tweeps out there to retract ignorant and offensive statements usually followed up with an apology. But it can’t stop there. Just because you apologize does not mean it elicits change.

Why aren’t employers holding employees to a higher standard?

It always seems employers find out too late that their employees are conducting themselves in direct or indirect violation of policies that the company went over on their first day. Many companies end up apologizing and literally paying for the unfavorable behavior of a (terrible) employee.

So should employers have the right to pre-screen social media accounts for potential new hires and audit existing accounts of current employees? ABSOLUTELY!

And yes, before you start another eye roll thinking that this is just crazy talk this would need to be within reason using some very well thought out and approved industry guidelines for what constitutes as justifiable reasons for not hiring or termination. I’d love to elaborate on this, but let’s be realistic here in that it would end up being an entire book and you probably want me to wrap it up.

Company and brand reputations are scrutinized more intensely than ever before with social media at our fingertips. It seems like it would only make sense for these companies to ensure that the people they employ and “share” the company’s passion for the products they produce or services they provide, also conduct their personal lives similarly to the codes of conduct of the business. 

I wrote earlier what you post MATTERS. That’s why I blog, because I believe that I matter to some degree, and think that others matter too.

It matters to the kids growing up in a racially conflicted Ferguson, MO. It matters to women who fear that they can’t walk down the street confidently in fear of being sexualized or called a bitch. It matters to young boys who know at a very young age that they like boys and dream of marrying a man that some in society tell him he shouldn’t have the right to. I’m that boy…….

All of those notions and feelings — mostly sad, angry, defeated feelings that come with — can simply be stirred by #nigger, #slut, #bitch #gay #faggot.

It should matter to you, it should matter to employers, it should matter to everyone because eliminating hate matters if we collectively want to – one day – live in a country, nation, and world that operates on acceptance and merit instead of prejudice and dishonesty.

What are your thoughts? Should employers have the right to view social media accounts prior to employment, during employment, both?